


SLAUGHTERHOUSE

by unknown_name



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst, Conflicted Feelings – Worst Enemy vs. Dearest Friend, From Twisted Celebration To Guilt, Gen, Mental Instability, Post-Boss Battle, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-04 05:16:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14585754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknown_name/pseuds/unknown_name
Summary: It doesn't end well.





	SLAUGHTERHOUSE

Akechi Goro was laughing.  
  
He was laughing, laughing so hard this choice of words was actually an understatement. Roaring with laughter might be a more accurate way to put it.  
  
He was roaring with laughter, arms wide, head back, at something that wasn't funny at all.  
  
He was roaring with laughter because it was the most marvelous sight he ever laid eyes upon. So thrilling, so exhilarating, all he could do was succumb.  
  
Eventually, however, after what might as well have been hours... he quieted down. The last of his laughter resonated inside the room for several more instants, until an eerie silence finally overcame all. His shoulders stopped shaking. His ribs hurt no more. His breathing settled down. The twisted euphoria distorting his features ebbed away, leaving in its wake a flat, blank canvas.  
  
Coldly, he looked down. At the little corpses filling the room.  
  
All of them had been ravaged, no, practically mauled to death, every last inch of their bodies mutilated beyond mercy. Their clothes were torn to shreds, the skin underneath bearing claws marks from which thin trails of blood were still seeping bead by bead. It would be easy to think they had been attacked by a wild animal, though the truth was, of course, anything but. A metallic smell was drifting from them, a prelude to the stomach-turning stench that would soon fill the room. It was already strong enough to repulse some, however, although Akechi Goro was entirely impervious to it. In fact, he welcomed it with open arms.  
  
After all, this taste of blood in the air was one more confirmation that he had won.  
  
Very slowly, he began to walk around the room, the echo of his footsteps unnaturally loud in the absolute silence. The nearest body was that of a brown-haired girl left in a heap on the floor. Akechi Goro tilted his head back, held his chin high.  
  
"Hmph... Queen. So upstanding, responsible, perfect in every way. They kept praising you like you were some real royalty, but to me... you will always be a mindless, pompous little know-it-all."  
  
That's right. Foolish girl, always whining about justice, always blabbering about righteousness... Self-righteousness, more like. Rarely in his life had he encountered someone so annoying. That smug look on her face each time one of her stupid  _comrades_ praised her so-called brains, like shedid actuallyconsider herself to be smart... now that seriously pissed him off.  
  
Wrinkles of distaste creased his face, and he fixed her remains with a cold, arrogant air that transcended contempt. She sure didn't look so haughty now... as it should be.  
  
It wasn't her whom he found the most insufferable, however. No, Queen was an eyesore, they all were, but she was nothing compared to _these two..._  
  
"Navi, Skull... If only you knew how many times I wanted to snap your necks..."  
  
The mere thought of them was enough to make his blood boil. Between the trash-talking of the brat and the open hostility of the blockhead, it was difficult to tell which one he couldn't stand the most. Who the hell did they think they were? How the hell dared they get cocky on him? That brat especially, with her snide comments left and right, treating him like he was undeserving of even an ounce of respect... like he was worth less than nothing...  
  
It had felt good hearing her spine crack. This was one sound he would take to the grave, treasuring it like the precious memory it was. As for the loudmouth, who could never even dream of measuring up to him, who was the complete opposite of everything he believed in... he could go to hell. Being looked down on was already unacceptable, but being looked down on by such a piece of garbage of all people was the driving force behind each of Akechi Goro's ferocious assaults as he sank his claws into Skull's flesh, tearing at the gashes, making them wider–  
  
And now, the good-for-nothing idiot wouldn't open his big mouth ever again. No more barking and yapping, Akechi Goro thought smugly as he grazed Skull's head with his foot in one last act of superiority, only a pathetic pile of flesh that had finally been put in its place. But then, he caught something pink out of the corner of his eye, and his face softened even while he kept taunting the corpse absently.  
  
"But you, Noir... You were not like them. You were always the most compassionate, the most gentle... the most foolish."  
  
His smile was wrong – horribly wrong. One corner of his lips stretched into a smirk, and his eyes opened wider. It was a wicked, twisted expression, rendering what had once been handsome features into something ugly, something monstrous. He spoke to Noir's body, the least mangled of all, in a tone that was almost loving, almost tender... almost insane.  
  
His expression didn't take long to turn impenetrable once more, however. Beside Noir's corpse were those of Fox and Panther. Akechi Goro walked past them with a sidelong stare, but made no comments. He had nothing to say to them – this is how little they mattered. He had already forgotten all about them when he came across _his_  remains.  
  
_"Hey... You care about Joker, don't you...? You enjoy being by his side..."_  
  
No sooner had the words finished resonating inside his head than his eyes opened wide. His gritted teeth bore a jarring likeness to a savage animal about to pounce. His chest began to rise and fall rapidly, his heart rate shot up, and this is when Akechi Goro snapped.  
  
"No, I don't, you stupid cat! Stop spewing bullshit!" he bellowed, kicking Mona's body so hard it flew across the room before crashing down at least thirty feet away. "Don't you dare imply...! Don't you dare think I... I...!"  
  
His fists were clenched to the point of physical pain, but he took no notice. Fury was consuming him, possessing him, turning him into a shadow of his former self.  
  
"Who the hell would care about him?! Who the hell would care about any of _you?!_ As if, you pieces of trash!" he howled, his features distorted into something inhuman, his body trembling with a rage out of this world. "You're all so pathetic, so completely worthless! I hate you! And I hate you! And you! And YOU!"  
  
What Akechi Goro didn't say, of course, was that he hated himself the very most, for having their blood on his hands. Besides, this intrusive thought lasted only a mere split second. Because the corpse he was pointing at was Joker's.  
  
His breathing erratic, he half-staggered, half-stomped off toward it, his instability showing even in his gait, his yells echoing across the room in an ear-shattering, confusing clamor.  
  
"You... With all your stupid _comrades..._ With all those people who acknowledge you... You have it good, didn't you?! Being special, being needed! Well, look at you now! Look where that superiority of yours got you!"  
  
A chilling grin returned to his face, and before he knew it, he was already writhing with laughter again. His laugh was hysterical, fast, demented. It was the laughter of someone gone mad, and with no hope for recovery.  
  
"Do you hear me, Joker?!" he yelled as he collapsed on top of him and grabbed him by the collar, shaking him so hard the corpse's head rolled uncontrollably from side to side. "I did it! I won! _I won!"_  
  
His voice was halfway through a shout and a laugh. His grip upon Joker's collar tightened, though his movements became slowly less agitated, less frantic. "So... You'll open your eyes now, right...? You're... You're going to wake up, aren't you...?"  
  
There was no response. Joker's eyes were already open, but their surface was utterly and hopelessly glassy, devoid of life. He would blink no more.

"H-Hey... Come on... Y-You can stop now..."  
  
An icy grip seized Akechi Goro's heart, which responded by pulsating faster and faster, as if desperate to escape it. His entire body began to quaver, this time not in rage.  
  
"J-Joker...?"  
  
As the teenager was getting more and more restless again, Joker remained perfectly still. A knot of muscle strangled him, and at last, his mind succumbed. Panic crashed down onto him like a tidal wave, overpowering all, overwhelming him.

"W-Wake up! C-Come on, wake up already!" he cried out, feeling his palms burn each time they hit Joker's face, the contact of hand against cheek ringing distantly inside his ears. "You're, you're not dead! You're not! You're _not!"_

But Joker wouldn't respond. This only fueled Akechi Goro's desperation even more, and he kept slapping him over and over and over again, unsure when exactly he had started crying.  
  
"Wh-Why won't you w-wake up?! Why?! _Why?!"_ he yelled in a strangled voice, hitting harder and faster, though no new bruises formed upon Joker's face – one more evidence pointing toward the inescapable truth. A part of him distantly noticed, but was overcome by the stubborn denial deeply rooted within his heart, screaming at him not to listen. "Come on! Come on, R-Ren...!"  
  
Akechi Goro sniffled and hiccuped as he shook him frantically, only stopping to toss his mask away and wipe his eyes with the back of his hand before he resumed attempting the impossible. The warmth of Joker's body was starting to recede. It was now nothing more than a lifeless object. The teenager's shoulders shuddered once more, wracked with sobs so great they were tearing through his body, but he kept pounding his fists weakly against Joker's chest, desperation reaching its peak, shivers running down his spine. He felt cold, very cold – as though he were dying as well.  
  
"Come back... Please..."

Eventually, his attempts slowed, then ceased. A quivering gaze met with an eternally dull one, reflecting its owner's killer in a cold, glassy stare. Akechi Goro slowly shook his head as he stared back, eyes wide, lip trembling, gasps fast, and then clasped his hands on either side of his helmet, uttering a horrifying scream, a scream so terrible it crossed over the edge of sanity, so deafening it was drowned out in the thunderous echoes that answered back, so–  
  
As the scene went on, a figure was watching with an impassive look on his face.  
  
He wasn't completely hidden, though he knew it mattered little whether he was or not – Akechi Goro clearly was in no position to notice him anytime soon. He was writhing over his victim's body, screaming in such agony that he stopped to choke out drops of blood from time to time, then screamed some more.  
  
So... This is how it was going to be, wasn't it.  
  
The entity kept staring. It was impossible to tell what kind of emotion was reflected in his dull, empty eyes, though it would be wrong to say he was apathetic. Even if it didn't show, his scorn was very real.  
  
Because there was no greater disgrace than a killer who cracked under the weight of remorse. They weren't even worthy of being called killers anymore – they were simply madmen, condemned to finish their lives inside the white walls of solitary confinement, spending years after years searching for a sanity that was long gone even as they wasted away. This is the fate that awaited those whom the entity called second-rate.  
  
And no matter how much promise Akechi Goro had shown... in the end, he, too, was nothing more than a disgrace. A disgrace to himself, and to all those he had killed.  
  
The entity's eyes narrowed. His principles were being violated right before his eyes, but he made no move to take care of the offender – Akechi Goro had done his part despite all, which meant dealing with him was out of the being's hands from now on. All he could do was sit back, and let the captain handle the rest... should the disgrace live long enough to see that day.  
   
There was nothing more for him to say. With one last flat, hard look at the teenager, the entity vanished, leaving behind a room of complete despair. Akechi Goro was no longer human. He was too far gone to ever come back.  
  
"... cr... ing...? Get..."  
  
"... wrong... him...?... need... wake..."  
  
"... Wake... Crow..."  
  
Akechi Goro groaned and stirred weakly, a murmur of voices reaching his ears as though from a mile away. They were getting louder and louder as the seconds passed, forcefully dragging his consciousness out of its deep slumber, and at last, his eyes fluttered open. The blurry picture he saw through heavy lids progressively sharpened into seven familiar faces – the faces of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Much to his surprise, each one of them was wearing a varying degree of concern he wasn't sure he could really explain.  
  
"Why are you..." he began feebly as he distantly wondered why his eyes were stinging so much, only to get his answer nearly at once. "Ah!"  
  
Without warning, he immediately straightened up, feeling the warm tears flooding his cheeks even through his gloved fingers, and this is when all the memories of his dream rushed back in – he let out a terrified whimper, darting his sight everywhere around for his mask only to come up short, forcing him to hide his face behind his arm instead. "D-Don't look at me...!"  
  
"Crow, what's wrong?" Joker asked as he extended a hand toward his shoulder, likely in a gesture of comfort–  
  
"N-No! No, don't! D-Don't touch me!"  
  
Akechi Goro's cry left in its wake a heavy silence. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling every last muscle of his body tremble violently, painfully aware of the seven stares boring into him.  
  
"Where... are we...?" he rasped, desperately trying to hide tears that wouldn't stop despite his best efforts. A short silence went by before Noir answered.  
  
"Inside Mona-chan... We were exploring Mementos, remember? But you fell asleep and started to shift around a lot..."  
  
"You were muttering in your sleep as well." Fox added, prompting Noir to nod. "Did you perhaps have a nightmare?"  
  
"N-No... I-I mean, yes, but... I'm alright now." the teenager stuttered, his lie obvious even to himself.  
  
"But you're still crying." Navi pointed out flatly as she handed him his mask, her goggles concealing whatever expression was on her face as she spoke. Akechi Goro tensed up again, and took his mask back without a word, finding some solace as he hid behind it once more. Joker, for his part, observed him, his expression undecipherable, until he opened his mouth and addressed the entire group.  
  
"Let's stop here for today. Crow isn't feeling well, so I'm not taking any ri–"  
  
"N-No!" Akechi Goro protested right away, sitting bolt upright. "Th-That won't be necessary, really... I-I mean, I promised I wouldn't slow you down..."  
  
"You're in no condition to fight, Crow. You might endanger the team if things go south, not to mention yourself." Joker retorted firmly, and the teenager couldn't help but flinch. He knew, in that moment, that the black-haired boy was speaking not as a fellow, ordinary member of the group, but as the leader of the Phantom Thieves. "You're all okay with this, right? Let's move then."  
  
Everybody save for the brown-haired boy nodded, and the rest of the ride was spent in silence, broken only when Queen finally announced they had reached the exit of Mementos. Akechi Goro listlessly left the van last, his head drooping onto his chest, letting the rest of the group go on ahead as his mind wandered back to this horrid dream.  
  
"Hey..."  
  
The young man looked up with a little gasp, his maroon eyes meeting grey ones. Joker silently motioned to Mona, who had turned back into his regular form, to catch up with the others, leaving the two boys behind. He threw a furtive glance at the group, and turned to face him at last. "Are you sure you're okay, Crow?"  
  
Akechi Goro was taken aback, and instinctively recoiled. He found it difficult to hold his gaze. "Y-Yes... Of course I am. Don't... worry about me."  
  
Once again, Joker peered at him for several long seconds, as though he were trying to read his mind. He then took out the handkerchief sitting in his chest pocket and held it out to him. "You're lying. I can tell there's something bothering you. Isn't there?"  
  
The teenager felt his body seize up. He opened his mouth right away to deny – only for his shoulders to slump in dejection. "... Yes, you're right. There is."  
  
"Is there a chance you can tell me about it?" Joker asked right away, staring at him intently, and Akechi Goro stared back, feeling his heart pound faster, hesitating for the space of an instant–  
  
"... I'm sorry." was all he eventually said, finally accepting the handkerchief. The black-haired boy fixed him a little longer before lowering his head, muttering how much of a shame that was, only for Akechi Goro to speak up again. "B-But I promise... that when the time comes, I'll... I'll tell you."  
  
"Really?" Joker replied, his face lighting up for the first time with the merest of smiles. "I'll be waiting then. You won't get cold feet, will you?"  
  
But before the young man could reply, the rest of the Phantom Thieves called out to them, clearly losing patience. Joker gave an apologetic wave and addressed him one last smile before running off to join them all, evidently reassured. Akechi Goro didn't immediately follow after him, however. He remained there, entirely still, watching Amamiya Ren's figure get farther and farther away.  
  
"Don't worry, I won't. I will tell you in your last moments." he whispered, his fist tensing around the handkerchief without his notice. "Very soon... when you're killed."  
  
Slowly, he set off toward them.  
Had he not gotten lost in thought once more, he might have noticed the odd smell of blood lingering in his wake. But then again, it could have been his imagination.


End file.
